Charge your electric vehicles at 40 stations in Chandigarh soon

Sandeep Rana
Chandigarh, April 17

People will be able to charge their electric vehicles at 40 charging stations in the city within a month.

The UT Administration has completed the work of installing around 20 charging stations in different parts of the city. In a month, 40 of these will be installed and commissioned.

“Within a month, we will complete the tender process of allotting the work of operating these stations. We have already installed around 20 stations, but these have not been commissioned yet. Within a month, 40 will be commissioned,” said Debendra Dalai, Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Executive Officer, CREST.

20 already installed

We will complete the tender process for allotting the work of operating these stations soon. We have already installed around 20 stations, but these have not been commissioned yet. Within a month, 40 will be commissioned. Debendra Dalai, CEO, CREST

The rates for charging have not been decided yet. “We will know this after the tendering process. It has not been fixed yet,” said Dalai. Both two-wheelers and four-wheelers can be charged at the same station.

The Centre had sanctioned a total of 70 charging stations for Chandigarh under Phase II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. It means on an average, every sector will have a charging station.

With an aim to bring the facility at the nearest place, the charging stations are being set up in parking lots of sectors and other prominent places such as Sukhna Lake, the PGI and Sector 17 and 42.

As many as 22 charging stations were sanctioned for the Chandigarh-Delhi highway under FAME 1, whereas solar-based chargers would be installed at 20 locations along the highway. As many as 24 charging stations have already been set up on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway.

The UT Administration has already planned to replace its entire fleet of ordinary buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) with electric buses in a phased manner under the Green City theme. Its workshop already have charging stations under the separate project. It has 50 electric vehicles and another 50 are soon to be inducted.